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Post by mossie on Nov 14, 2015 19:43:58 GMT
Thanks for the pictures of the tricolour lighting Kerouac. I am just catching up with this after spending last night in hospital with an ear infection, which I hope has been squashed by a massive dose of antibiotics which I was given, continuing at home for 10 days.
Nothing is going to stop my forthcoming visit. Pleased to hear our Paris members are safe.
My thoughts are with all those directly affected.
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Post by chexbres on Nov 14, 2015 20:21:32 GMT
Even though the regional elections have been cancelled, this hasn't stopped the presidential hopefuls from putting on a show after the terrorist attacks.
Front-runner - by a landslide - Alain Juppé A good 8 lengths behind - but still trotting for all he's worth - Nicolas Sarkozy In last place - "Beetlebaum" - Marine LePen
Mayor Hidalgo is treading water, claiming that the neighborhoods that were attacked represent the "real people and spirit of France", and in spite of the attacks, Parisians will continue to go out and party. Desperately trying to keep alive the chance that Paris will host the next Olympics.
I heard from someone who lives near Bataclan - and who comes from Northern Ireland. Apparently there are still bodies inside because it's impossible to identify people who left their ID's in the cloakroom or who were disfigured during the shooting. They have to collect as much DNA as possible before they can move them. Still, lots of criticism about why they are working so slowly. She said that fake passports are commonly used to throw off the authorities.
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Post by bjd on Nov 14, 2015 20:24:56 GMT
Chexbres -- are you sure about the elections being cancelled? I just had a look on the internet and saw that what was cancelled was a televised debate about them.
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Post by chexbres on Nov 14, 2015 20:28:17 GMT
Thank you - sorry - typing too fast. Yes, just the debates have been cancelled - though you wouldn't know it from watching these politicians on the news tonight.
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Post by htmb on Nov 14, 2015 20:43:30 GMT
Mossie! It's good to hear from you. Sorry to hear you were in the hospital. Here's hoping your ear continues to heal properly and you are in no pain.
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Post by questa on Nov 14, 2015 23:35:23 GMT
Another reason why the intersection could have been chosen is that another bomb failed to go off. If it is a fairly confined area the first group go in and shoot indiscriminately causing mayhem. Then when the responders and their vehicles, press, helpers etc converge on the area, a bomb is detonated that does the real damage. This was the strategy used in Bali and other places. Not all bombs go off due to technical or human error.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 15, 2015 2:39:57 GMT
~ ? ~
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2015 6:04:59 GMT
Right now the biggest mystery for the investigators is the total failure of the team at the stadium. Maybe they were completely misinformed about their chances of getting into the stadium (perhaps somebody who was supposed to let them in did not show up?), but they blew themselves up all alone -- even though one bystander was killed -- in a zone where there were tens of thousands of people entering the stadium just 20 minutes earlier.
Frankly, the most troubling element is the kamikaze bomb belts, because these have never been used in Europe before. Purely local terrorists would probably not know how to make one (even if you can learn anything over the internet), so either the belts were delivered to them or else foreign specialists are in Europe to fabricate them. And these people are still on the loose, because the investigators say that absolutely nobody ever makes an explosive belt for personal use -- they are always made to be used by some other indoctrinated idiot who accepts to die.
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Post by bjd on Nov 15, 2015 6:51:01 GMT
That struck me too when I listened to the Paris prosecutor (like a district attorney?) giving a talk yesterday about the events in chronological order. That the suicide bombers outside the stadium blew themselves up without causing major damage, especially since their belts contained small bits calculated to do maximum damage.
Of course, the more information given out publicly, the more information provided for the next lot of terrorists about how to cause the most damage and kill the most people.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2015 7:18:04 GMT
It may be discovered that the explosive belts were radio controlled and that they were not even set off by the wearers themselves. Miscalculation?
It appears that the "Syrian passport man" was indeed Syrian, because he was fingerprinted entering Greece recently.
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Post by onlyMark on Nov 15, 2015 7:53:35 GMT
Guns are easy to obtain. Explosives of this type aren't. There must be somewhere a 'bomb maker' who, I hope, is known to the authorities.
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Post by questa on Nov 15, 2015 7:59:19 GMT
This operation must have involved many men...organise, obtain bomb making items, train bombers, and get them fired up, drivers, film crews etc. How on earth did all the intel units around the world not hear a squeak about it?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2015 8:06:33 GMT
It appears that the "Syrian passport man" was indeed Syrian, because he was fingerprinted entering Greece recently. Ah, I see that they still do not know if the terrorist next to the Syrian passport is actually that person.
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Post by rikita on Nov 15, 2015 8:32:55 GMT
german news claim that ten days ago a man was arrested in bavaria, who had weapons and explosives and was on his way to paris. i only had a quick look at the articles, so can't say details, but they say that french authorities were informed of the arrest. no idea whether that story is connected though ...
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Post by rikita on Nov 15, 2015 8:33:34 GMT
just heard that trump blames the high death toll on the fact that no one in the concert and at other venues had weapons and thus couldn't shoot back ...
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Post by chexbres on Nov 15, 2015 9:36:12 GMT
questa - apparently there is just too much information and too few people trying to make sense out of it. Hollande has been attacked for not having taken the terrorist situation much more seriously, especially after CharlieHebdo. Authorities are being criticized for the fact that some of the terrorists (and their families and friends) who have been identified had already been "flagged" and should have been more closely monitored, since they were already known for being radicalized and participating in criminal activity.
Today, the outdoor market is closed, as are the cafes all around it. There are a few more people out wandering around than there were yesterday, but it's nothing like a normal Sunday in my neighborhood, which is usually overflowing with people. I'm hearing quite a few sirens, which has me a little jumpy, even though nothing is happening but the usual traffic accidents.
rikita - after the year's worth of pointless shootings in the US, it would not surprise me at all if Trump wins the election.
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Post by bjd on Nov 15, 2015 9:43:59 GMT
just heard that trump blames the high death toll on the fact that no one in the concert and at other venues had weapons and thus couldn't shoot back ... Typical ridiculous attitude. It was also mentioned at the time of a shooting in Arizona. Sure, get even more people with guns out there, shooting wildly in a tightly-packed crowd. Chexbres, there have been mass shootings in the States for years now, so it's definitely not a reason for anyone to vote for Trump.
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Post by chexbres on Nov 15, 2015 9:50:42 GMT
bjd - I'm definitely not advocating voting for anyone other than Hilary
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Post by tod2 on Nov 15, 2015 13:59:55 GMT
One of the friends who wrote from Paris is of South Asian origin and brown-skinned (like most of the world's people who aren't "white Europeans", sub-Saharan Africans or east Asians) and his wife is of a completely different but also "brown" origin, as, of course, is their daughter. They were returning home from a show and people were glaring at them on the métro. How silly those people were Lagatta. Wasn't Jahadi-John as pale as a lily.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2015 15:36:48 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2015 15:41:44 GMT
It appears that the "Syrian passport man" was indeed Syrian, because he was fingerprinted entering Greece recently. Ah, I see that they still do not know if the terrorist next to the Syrian passport is actually that person. It would be politically expeditious if a Syrian passport is found at the scene. I don't see how they can match the passport to an exploded body, unless there is enough left to check the fingerprint. Do Syrian passports require fingerprints? I know mine doesn't. If he was fingerprinted entering Greece AND the fingerprint is the same as the exploded body, then I will believe. Maybe. But stranger things have happened; it's all only what the media is being fed, after all.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2015 16:33:01 GMT
Most 3rd world passports still require fingerprints to my knowledge, at least in the application file if not on the passport itself. But I would imagine that in any case, anybody's passport would have plenty of the owner's DNA on a lot of the pages.
Meanwhile, I would like to wring Sarkozy's scrawny little neck. He is the ultimate back seat driver: "you should have done this, you should have done that." If he had been a perfect president when he had his chance, I think we would know that by now.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2015 16:39:35 GMT
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Post by onlyMark on Nov 15, 2015 16:58:45 GMT
just heard that trump blames the high death toll on the fact that no one in the concert and at other venues had weapons and thus couldn't shoot back ... Do USAnians go to the football and concerts all tooled up then?
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Post by htmb on Nov 15, 2015 17:34:40 GMT
No
Edited to say: Donald Trump might.
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Post by questa on Nov 15, 2015 21:32:57 GMT
He'd be wise to don Kevlar body armour
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Post by htmb on Nov 15, 2015 22:55:27 GMT
My daughter is a member of a church in New York City, located a few blocks north of the French Consulate. She's never known them to say any part of the church service in French, but today that was not the case. Not only were some of the prayers read in French, but a hymn or two, as well. She found the whole experience quite moving.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2015 12:38:51 GMT
There has been a huge show of solidarity here in New Orleans. Many, many French flags being flown,a number of tributes and vigils, the largest one in Lafayette Square in the French Quarter last evening. Our hearts are with you.
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Post by bjd on Nov 16, 2015 13:01:26 GMT
Every time I see the locations of the attacks, I am glad my daughter no longer lives in Paris. For years, she lived a 5 minute walk away from the Belle Equipe café, where 19 people were killed, and it was an area where she and her friends often went out for dinner.
Since I spent so much time in Paris over the years, it's an area I know well and it brings it home that much more.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2015 13:05:27 GMT
That must have been a real emotional jolt for you and your husband when you saw that particular target. It makes me shudder just to think of it. I'm glad she is no longer there.
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